Teen, University of Alabama researchers find rare fossils in local quarry

Student discovered part of Elasmosaur backbone

University of Alabama paleontologist Dana Ehret shows pieces of vertebra of an Elasmosaur on Tuesday inside his lab on the UA campus in Tuscaloosa.

Dusty Compton | Tuscaloosa News

By Ed EnochStaff Writer

Published: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 10:55 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | A fragment of stone on a dusty hillside in a Greene County quarry drew Noah Traylor’s attention because it resembled a vertebra.

Despite the tantalizing shape, the 14-year-old said he assumed an assessment by a University of Alabama paleontologist accompanying the teen and other middle and high school students would reveal it was only a rock, like so many other bits of stone culled during the annual summer field expedition program put on by UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History.

“At first, I thought he was joking,” said Noah, who will attend Northridge High School this fall.

Noah’s vertebra-shaped rock turned out to be just that — a fossilized piece of backbone from an Elasmosaur, a Cretaceous period leviathan that prowled a sea whose shoreline traced along Alabama’s Black Belt region.

Back on the hillside site where he picked up the fragment, Noah said the paleontologist identified more “rocks” as fossils from the large marine reptile.

The fossils from the Elasmosaur — the inspiration for the Loch Ness Monster myth — are a rare find in the Black Belt’s fossil bed, said paleontologist Dana Ehret, who assisted with the 35th annual Museum Expedition Camp. The camp allows students to spend time in the field with experts in areas such as paleontology and archeology.

The fossilized remains of Cretaceous fish, turtles, sharks and whales that inhabited the shallow marine environment are common finds in the chalk deposits of the region, Ehret said.

Elasmosaurs were the largest of the late Cretaceous plesiosaurs and would have been found in fewer numbers in Alabama’s Cretaceous ecosystem.

The fossils will help researchers “flesh out Cretaceous Alabama,” Ehret said.

Ehret said it is only the second set of fossilized Elasmosaur remains to be found in the state’s Black Belt. The first was found in the 1960s and is housed in UA’s collection. Ehret said the staff is considering nicknaming the new specimen after Noah, who attended the camp for the third time this June.

So far UA researchers have recovered 15-20 Elasmosaur fossils, a mix of vertebra, flipper bones and other bone fragments. UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History hopes to display the fossils sometime later this summer, said Ehret, curator of paleontology for the UA museums. Ehret is cleaning the fossils in his lab in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall on UA’s campus.

Ehret said the search for more fossils at the site in Greene County is ongoing but, since it is being actively quarried, the collection will likely conclude in the next few weeks.

While Elasmosaurs could grow as large as 45 feet, Ehret said it is hard to estimate the size of the animal recovered from the quarry because the skeleton is incomplete.

“We are really hoping to find a skull,” Ehret said.

The skull is critical for a more specific identification of the specimen, he said.

It’s the next piece in an 80-million year old jigsaw puzzle.

“There is always something more to find,” Ehret said. “I think that’s what makes it exciting.”

<p>TUSCALOOSA | A fragment of stone on a dusty hillside in a Greene County quarry drew Noah Traylor's attention because it resembled a vertebra.</p><p>Despite the tantalizing shape, the 14-year-old said he assumed an assessment by a University of Alabama paleontologist accompanying the teen and other middle and high school students would reveal it was only a rock, like so many other bits of stone culled during the annual summer field expedition program put on by UA's Alabama Museum of Natural History.</p><p>Instead, paleontologist Takehito “Ike” Ikejiri told the teen it was fossilized bone.</p><p>“At first, I thought he was joking,” said Noah, who will attend Northridge High School this fall.</p><p>Noah's vertebra-shaped rock turned out to be just that — a fossilized piece of backbone from an Elasmosaur, a Cretaceous period leviathan that prowled a sea whose shoreline traced along Alabama's Black Belt region.</p><p>Back on the hillside site where he picked up the fragment, Noah said the paleontologist identified more “rocks” as fossils from the large marine reptile.</p><p>The fossils from the Elasmosaur — the inspiration for the Loch Ness Monster myth — are a rare find in the Black Belt's fossil bed, said paleontologist Dana Ehret, who assisted with the 35th annual Museum Expedition Camp. The camp allows students to spend time in the field with experts in areas such as paleontology and archeology.</p><p>The fossilized remains of Cretaceous fish, turtles, sharks and whales that inhabited the shallow marine environment are common finds in the chalk deposits of the region, Ehret said. </p><p>Elasmosaurs were the largest of the late Cretaceous plesiosaurs and would have been found in fewer numbers in Alabama's Cretaceous ecosystem.</p><p>The fossils will help researchers “flesh out Cretaceous Alabama,” Ehret said. </p><p>Ehret said it is only the second set of fossilized Elasmosaur remains to be found in the state's Black Belt. The first was found in the 1960s and is housed in UA's collection. Ehret said the staff is considering nicknaming the new specimen after Noah, who attended the camp for the third time this June.</p><p>So far UA researchers have recovered 15-20 Elasmosaur fossils, a mix of vertebra, flipper bones and other bone fragments. UA's Alabama Museum of Natural History hopes to display the fossils sometime later this summer, said Ehret, curator of paleontology for the UA museums. Ehret is cleaning the fossils in his lab in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall on UA's campus. </p><p>Ehret said the search for more fossils at the site in Greene County is ongoing but, since it is being actively quarried, the collection will likely conclude in the next few weeks.</p><p>While Elasmosaurs could grow as large as 45 feet, Ehret said it is hard to estimate the size of the animal recovered from the quarry because the skeleton is incomplete.</p><p>“We are really hoping to find a skull,” Ehret said. </p><p>The skull is critical for a more specific identification of the specimen, he said.</p><p>It's the next piece in an 80-million year old jigsaw puzzle.</p><p>“There is always something more to find,” Ehret said. “I think that's what makes it exciting.”</p><p>Reach Ed Enoch at ed.enoch@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0209.</p>